The Nativity

 Here's this year's nativity crew.  John, Carter, and Ethan as wisemen.  Emily as angel.  Kelsie and Matson as shepherds.  Ashtyn and Mason as Mary and Joseph.

 Carter presenting his gift.

My little shepherd boy looking up to his big sister.

Christmas Wishes

 Merry Christmas Eve.  Here are the kids requests for Santa this year:

Matson: "everything I see on TV"

Carter:  A Dog

Emily:  a pink soccer ball

Kelsie:  socks

At least Kelsie will be one happy girl tomorrow morning.  Matson has stayed true to his request and has told everyone who asks that he wants, "everything on T.V."  He is a marketers dream come true!

That's my crazy little three year old.  His final words to me as I tucked him in tonight:  "Mom, I think Santa is going to bring you coal!"  :)

Emily's Invite

 

Emily's "Minute to Win It" Party!

For Emily's 9th birthday party we did a "Minute to Win It" Party.  I was still sick when we started planning it and had no idea how I was going to pull off a party so we went with dad's party theme idea.  (Emily thought it was the greatest idea she'd ever heard!)  I wasn't super excited about it but I was wrong.  We couldn't have picked a better party for my competitive, energetic Emily.  It was perfect for her!  She loved every second of the competitions! 

 Here's the master of ceremonies.  John was the energy behind this party and led the games and fun.  He even found an official "Minute to Win It" countdown which was super awesome.

 We divided the kids into groups did 10 "Minute to Win It" rotations.  Some of their favorites were Stack the cups, Face the Cookie, Dice Stack, and Marshmallow Head.  It was so fun to see them working together and cheering each other on. 

 This was their all time favorite.  Their partner had to throw marshmellows into the bowl on their head.  It was a hoot to watch them jumping around trying to catch the marshmellows. 

 That was what Emily looked like through the whole party.  Couldn't wipe that smile of her face.  She was jumping up and down, screaming, smiling, and having the time of her life.  She is SUPER competitive and this was the perfect party for her.  She loved it!!!  I sat and watched her the whole time.  It was so fun to see her SO excited and happy! 

 Our last competition was "decorate your cupcake in a minute".  Then we had root beer and Fanta floats, opened presents, and ended with a Pinata!  Here's the gang for her 9th birthday.

 The Birthday Girl

 Em and Liz.  Love this picture of these cute friends.    They've been at each other's parties since they were three!

 She got lots of nice gifts and the Rainbow Loom was the favorite!  She was so excited!  Kelsie and Emily have been happily making bracelets ever since.  And yes, they are talking about turning it into a bracelet business, but I'm really trying to downplay that big time!

 Rainbow Pinata filled with clearance Halloween candy. :)

 She ended her fun day with her favorite dinner:  Panda Express!  She LOVES the chow mein!  It was a busy, fun day to celebrate our spunky little Emily. 

Halloween 2013

Happy Halloween! 

Matson as the cutest firefighter ever! 

 Carter as a Mean Pirate Boy.  He loves dressing up and stays in character!

Emily as a witch

 

 Kelsie as Raggedy Ann

We got a whole bucket of candy at dad's work.   Then headed home to get another bucket full in the neighborhood!  Can you have to much candy?  They don't think so!  Happy Halloween!

First Day of School

 Kelsie's first day of 6th grade.  Emily's first day of 3rd grade.  Can't believe how fast they've grown up.  They were so excited to start school and see their friends again!

 A week later Carter FINALLY got to start kindergarten.  He's been waiting for this day for so long. 

 First day of Kindergarten!

Here he is about to walk into his class.  He looks a bit nervous, but once he got in his class he loved every minute of it. 

Matson's MICKEY Birthday!

 Happy 3rd Birthday to our little Matson!  He has been planning and talking about his birthday all summer and couldn't wait to FINALLY be THREE!  He would wake up every morning for the last few weeks and say, "is it my birthday?  Am I three now?"  He often went over the guest list with me and it included Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and all their friends.  I was a little worried he was going to be terribly disappointed but it turned out he likes his family too and he overlooked the fact that none of his favorite characters showed up to wish his a Happy Birthday in person! 

Love this little face.  Matson is the sweetest little boy with a tender little heart.  He loves to cuddle and hug and make everyone happy.  He has the funniest little personality and has us laughing at the goofy things he says and does.  I have cherished every single day of watching this little guy grow up. He's a momma's boy and knows the way to my heart.  We love him!

Matson got a new big boy bike!  He was so excited to have a bike just like Carter!

 His other gift was Rescue Heroes.  He loves them!  Nothing better in his book than some new figurines to fight around with!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy! 

 

Side Note:  Every day since his birthday he wakes up, stands up in bed and says, "Was it my birthday?  Am I three now?"  I assure him he really is three and he grins ear to ear.  It's quite an accomplishment for him to finally be three and he couldn't be prouder!  He will periodically stop playing during the day and say to me, "I'm three now, why do I still wear diapers?"  and "I'm three.  I can sleep up with Carter in my big boy bed."  He has great intentions but we're not seeing a lot of action in either department.  But, at least he's thinking about it!  Recognition is the first step and he's so proud to be THREE!

Super Cousins

 These three crazy boys celebrated their birthdays together this weekend.  They were all born within a few days of each other in August.  Grandma surprised them with Super Hero Capes and they were in heaven!  Super Matson is on the left.  Next to Captain America and Batman.  Matson (3)  Chase (5) Mason (4). 

They are off to fight the bad guys.  Matson keeps up with the bigger boys and doesn't want to miss a thing.  They love to run around and fight so they will get lots of good use of their new capes!  Thanks, Grandma.

Baking Cookies

Our cute, new neighbors are so good to our kids.  They invited the kids over to bake cookies with them.  Emily and Matson went over and had a ball.  Matson ate a ridiculous amount of dough and reminded me of why I don't bake with 2 year olds! 

Staycation: Lagoon!

 Took all the kids to Lagoon for the first time.  Carter was the exact height you need to be to ride all the big rides.  He was pretty much thrilled to be 46 inches tall!  And it's a good thing cause he's a total daredevil!  He rode rides I would never step foot on...and he loves them all!

 Matson, on the other hand, hated every ride and wouldn't get near most of them!  He didn't care for Lagoon at all and kept saying he just wanted to go home.  Poor boy.  :(  But, I understand just how he felt!  He did love this little car ride and went on it a bunch of time. 

 This is John's favorite ride...the swing one.  Kelsie, Emily, and Carter LOVED it.  They are daredevils and loved everything.  John convinced me to go on it and I thought I was gonna die.  After Lagoon, I decided I might have a little bit of a height problem. 

 Carter and me on the train ride.

 It was SO hot.  We tried to cool off in the afternoon with Icee's.

 Girlies sharing their Icee and trying to stay cool.

 The boys loved this shooting ride!

Riding the "Scary Wheel"  as Matson calls it.  It was almost dusk and so pretty.

This is what the boys looked like on the way home.  Super exhausted.  It was a fun day.  But, John and I agreed we were good to not go back for a few years.  Just don't tell our oldest three kids....they LOVE Lagoon!

Staycation Day 2: Bowling

Bowling in Lehi.  The first time the boys had been bowling.  Matson got SO excited when he hit pins down.  He would stand and watch and then jump up and down and cheer for himself.  It was super fun to watch him.  The other three were serious about their game and were pretty good little bowlers. Later, that day we went to Despicable Me 2 (it was super cute) and then ate at Panda Express (the kids favorite) for dinner.

Staycation Day 1: Cowabunga Bay!

Water slides, lazy river, swimming, splash pad, and Cowabunga pizza for dinner.  We loved it!  We would love to go back soon!  It was a lot cleaner and more manageable than Seven Peaks...and there weren't billions of people everywhere.  Super fun!

Imagination

Matson has always had an amazing imagination.  When he was one we used to peek into his room and find him entertaining himself with nothing but his hands.  He would be happily lying in his bed with no toys at all, talking to himself while he flew his hands around above him, ramming into each other with fighting noises.  With no toys to use, he simply turned his hands into the two teams that were battling.  It was hilarious to watch his little imagination in work.  He could make everything come to life in his little head and he was super easy to entertain!

Fast forward a few months to present time. 

We watched "Night at the Museum" as a family.  Big Mistake.  The next few nights Matson couldn't sleep and kept telling me that the big elephant was going to come and get him in his crib.  He would wake up screaming from his dreams and was terrified of some crazy elephant that was haunting him.  But, after lots of sleepless nights he was finally sleeping most of the night again.

UNTIL we went to see Despicable Me 2 during our staycation.  Super cute movie.  Matson enjoyed it and didn't seem scared until bedtime.  But, then he was terrified!  He insisted that the Minion Monsters were coming for him.  He must sleep in MY bed, with the covers over his head, and he insists that I lock him in the room and close all the blinds so they can't get in. 

Tonight, he turned to me while I was putting him to bed and he said, "mommy, are you scared of anything."  I assured him I wasn't.  :)  I was looking for the quick fix.  Then I said, "Why, Mat?  Are you scared of something?"  I was expecting a long journey through Despicable Me and Minions and Monsters.  Instead he said, "Ya, the wolf.  It's coming to get me."  No amount of persuasion was changing his mind.  The wolf was coming and his only defense was to cuddle up to me and pull all the covers up over his head.  Apparently, wolves can't find you if there are covers over you.  :)

Poor boy.  He is genuinely terrified.  You can see it in his eyes when he talks about these scary things.  Everything he sees becomes so alive in his little head and completely takes over him.  We sure love our funny boy with the wild imagination.  We just wish he'd sleep in his own bed at night....

T-Ball

Carter started T-ball this year and he's loving it! This is the first time we've had a child do T-ball and I couldn't stop taking pictures.  He was so cute with his hat and little mitt.  It sure is a lot slower paced than soccer though!  The first week he was upset because he said, "I don't even know the rules of T-ball".  Once John went over the rules with him, he was good to go.  He's got it all down and he loves playing...and we all love going to watch our little T-ball boy.

 

He plays first base  most of the time.  He loves it because he keeps busy and he has quite the arm for getting the ball across the field. 

 

Up to bat

Running into home